Governor Martinez backs gun show bill

Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican who who has courted the pro-gun vote, said Monday that she supports a compromise bill that would require background checks on people who buy guns at gun shows.

Asked by a reporter about House Bill 77, which passed the House Judiciary Committee Friday on a bi-partisan vote, Martinez said, "I think I could support it if it stays the way it is." She said she likes the bill because it would help in "keeping the guns out of the hands who people who don't have any business having guns."

Said Martinez, "We want to make sure that guns aren't sold to a felon or someone who's mentally ill at a gun show."

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque, will be debated by the full House on Wednesday, Feb. 13, said a news release from House Democrats. If it passes there, it still must go through the Senate before it reaches the governor's desk.

Martinez said a major reason she backs the bill in its current form is that it would establish a procedure to align the state's mental health and criminal conviction records with the federal instant background check system.

The law currently requires background checks for gun purchases from licensed dealers, whether at retail stores or gun shows. However, bill supporters say that a significant number of gun sales in the state do not require background checks.

Martinez has been a strong backer of gun rights. In 2011, her political director posted a video of her at a firing range requalifying for her concealed carry license.

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(She scored 100 percent with both .38- and .45-caliber handguns.) Last year in her speech to the Republican National Convention, Martinez got a big response when she talked about carrying a weapon when she worked for her father's security business. "Now my dad made sure I could take care of myself," she said. " I carried a Smith and Wesson .357 magnum. Yes, that gun weighed more than I did."

The governor's support of the bill was applauded by a progressive group that has been critical of her administration. "We don't often agree with the governor on policies like these," said a news release from Pat Davis, executive director of Progress Now New Mexico. "When progressives like us can agree with conservatives like her on gun law reform, New Mexico should sit up and take note."

The issue of gun control, which has become a major topic of national discussion since December's massacre of 26 school children and educators at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., is one of the most emotional issues facing the Legislature this year.

On Friday, before the House Judiciary Committee discussed HB 77, a gun rights group called Stand Your Ground New Mexico held a rally outside the Capitol. Some participants carried handguns, hunting rifles and semi-automatic rifles.

Rep. Steve Easley, D-Santa Fe, who is sponsoring HB 402, which would ban assault rifles and large-capacity magazines in New Mexico, said Monday that on Friday there was a "steady stream" of gun-rights advocates who came by his office demanding to see him while he was on the House floor. Some of the visitors, he said, were angry and insisted on debating the bill with the staff in his office.

One man became angry and tried to intimidate a secretary, Easley said. "She called the state police, who escorted him out. ... Unfortunately, we have no rules that prevent weapons in the Roundhouse."

One of the rally's organizers, Bob Mitzel of Roswell, said he was surprised to hear about this incident. He said he talked to state police on Friday and there were no reports of any problems.

State police spokesman Tony Lynn said the officer in charge of Capitol security during the Legislative session told him there were no reports of such an incident.

However, Easley's receptionist on Monday said she did call for police help with an angry, intimidating gun-rights supporter.

Easley said he expects his bill will be heard by the House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee next week.

Contact Steve Terrell at sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.